Tag Archives: Humor

GBA SP With DeWALT Battery Will Outlast the Apocalypse

Posted on by

Handheld gamers obsess over battery life like it’s a matter of survival. We swap cells, carry backup chargers, and baby old consoles through one more dungeon before the screen flickers off. Battery anxiety is real, especially for something like the Game Boy Advance SP, where the original cell barely lasted through a single flight. This mod responds to that anxiety by going completely overboard, bolting a GBA SP onto a DeWALT power-tool battery big enough to run drills and apparently several full-length RPGs.

The project comes from a Reddit build where a modder mounts a GBA SP onto a DeWALT XR FLEXVOLT lithium-ion pack, creating what commenters immediately dubbed the “jobsite Game Boy.” The console’s original tiny battery is gone, replaced by a buck converter that steps down the tool battery’s eighteen volts to the four-ish volts the SP expects. The result looks like Nintendo and DeWALT secretly collaborated on a rugged portable for construction workers.

Designer: Bangoo H

The battery is rated at nine amp-hours at 18 volts, which works out to around 162 watt-hours compared to the few watt-hours of the original cell. Reddit did the math and estimated hundreds of hours of runtime, with one commenter joking that the battery might finally die fifteen minutes after the nukes start flying and another suggesting you could finish your entire childhood backlog before needing a recharge.

The wiring is straightforward if you squint. The modder dropped a buck converter into the SP where the original battery lived, wired it to the battery contacts via a dummy cell, then connected that to a custom holder that slides onto the DeWALT pack’s rail. Charging still happens through the regular DeWALT charger, so the Game Boy just thinks it has an absurdly large external battery that never quits.

The aesthetics are what really sell it. The SP shell has been resprayed in black with yellow buttons, and the lid wears a big DeWALT logo, so when it’s closed, the whole thing reads like a tiny power-tool accessory. Open it up, and the screen pops out of the battery like a work light. It even has a little Nintendo badge on the back, making the mashup feel weirdly official.

Of course, the DeWALT pack turns the SP from a pocketable handheld into a luggable brick. Commenters joked about dropping it on your face in bed or finally silencing anyone who says the SP is too small for their hands. It’s not exactly travel-friendly unless your idea of travel involves rolling a toolbox around, but it does give the console a much larger grip.

The DeWALT GBA SP mod turns battery anxiety into a punchline and shows how far you can push an idea just because it makes you laugh. By strapping a beloved handheld to a power-tool battery, it mixes serious electrical work with a sense of humor, reminding us that modding can be joyful and completely unnecessary in the best possible way.

The post GBA SP With DeWALT Battery Will Outlast the Apocalypse first appeared on Yanko Design.

This E Ink Clock Prints Fortunes and Jokes on Paper Slips

Posted on by

Time usually passes without much fanfare. Numbers flip on your phone screen, the day blurs from morning coffee to evening TV, and most minutes feel interchangeable. Clocks are background objects, functional but forgettable, doing nothing more than reminding you how late you’re running. There’s no ceremony to checking the time, no surprise waiting when you glance at the display. It’s just numbers counting down to whatever you’re supposed to do next.

Houracle by True Angle approaches this differently. Instead of treating time as something that simply ticks away, it turns each minute into a potential moment of delight. The device is part clock, part oracle, with an eco-friendly thermal printer tucked into the top that spits out fortunes, jokes, riddles, or random facts tied to the exact moment you press the button. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to check the time just to see what happens.

Designer: True Angle

Click Here to Buy Now: $128 $213 (40% off). Hurry, only a few left!

The design is deliberately retro. A boxy, powder-coated aluminum body with rounded edges, a large orange or yellow button on the top, and an e-ink display that looks like a pencil sketch on paper. The screen shows the time and date, the weather for your selected location, and a small prompt inviting you to press print. Five icons along the right edge let you select modes, fortune, fact, joke, riddle, or surprise, each represented by simple graphics.

Press the button and the printer whirs to life, a satisfying mechanical sound as the paper slip emerges from the top. At 7:42 in the morning, it might tell you destiny took a coffee break and suggest making your own magic. At 11:15, it could mention your brain runs on about 20 watts, enough to power a dim bulb or a brilliant idea. The messages feel oddly personal because they’re tied to that specific minute.

What makes this genuinely charming is how the slips accumulate. They end up on the fridge, tucked into notebooks, or shared with family members over breakfast. Heck, you might find yourself printing extras just to see what weird fact or ridiculous joke Houracle generates next. The lucky numbers printed at the bottom add an extra layer of whimsy that completes the fortune cookie vibe without taking itself too seriously.

The e-ink screen plays a bigger role than you’d expect. Unlike the glowing blue displays most clocks use, this one reflects ambient light rather than emitting it. That makes it easier on the eyes, especially at night, and gives the whole device a calming presence. The screen updates when you interact with it, but otherwise sits quietly, blending into the background.

Of course, the whole thing runs on wall power, which means no batteries to replace or USB cables to manage. The aluminum body is built to last, assembled with screws rather than glue. Houracle also uses BPA and BPS-free thermal slips, sourced from a company that plants a new tree or restores kelp in the ocean for every box of thermal rolls purchased. True Angle designed Houracle with sustainability in mind, using recyclable materials and avoiding planned obsolescence.

What’s surprising is how much a simple printed slip can shift your mood. A clever riddle before bed, a dumb joke during a work break, or a strange fact that makes you pause for a second. These aren’t profound moments, but they add small pockets of joy to days that might otherwise feel routine. Houracle captures the anticipation you used to feel when cracking open a fortune cookie.

The device sits on your desk or nightstand, looking unassuming until you press that button and hear the printer activate. Then it becomes something else entirely, a little machine that marks time with paper artifacts you’ll probably keep longer than you should. For anyone who’s tired of clocks that just tell time and do nothing else, that small shift makes all the difference.

Click Here to Buy Now: $128 $213 (40% off). Hurry, only a few left!

The post This E Ink Clock Prints Fortunes and Jokes on Paper Slips first appeared on Yanko Design.

Physical Double-Sided Gboard is the keyboard of your dreams or nightmares

Posted on by

Our computer keyboards have just enough keys to cover the letters and numbers of the English language, but sometimes those aren’t enough. Some probably wish there were more keys to assign to certain app shortcuts and actions, while others dealing with other languages and scripts will probably want to cover those without having to switch keyboard layouts every time. Of course, a keyboard with that many keys will probably be huge, but not unless you design it in a creative form. Fortunately, Google Japan has our backs, and fronts for that matter, with a double-sided keyboard monstrosity inspired by one of math’s most classic paradoxes: the Möbius strip.

Designer: Google

The keyboard is made up of 26 modules, each of which has eight RGb-backlit keys, four on each side of the structure. They’re laid out in a band that technically has no front or back, which is what the Möbius strip is infamous for. That means you can practically turn this “keyboard” around or flip it on its side and it will always be right side up. Sort of.

Of course, it’s pretty obvious how unusable such a contraption would be as a keyboard, but the bright minds at Google Japan do have a few suggestions. Forget pair programming! This keyboard lets up to three or even more people type simultaneously, which increases productivity threefold. Since it basically has no right or wrong side, it will be an essential tool in zero-g environments as well. The possibilities are nearly endless, especially since you can’t figure out where this keyboard begins and ends either.

The Double-Sided Gboard also has utility outside of typing. It can be put on a spinning pedestal as a futuristic desk decoration or hung on doors as a welcoming wreath. Google suggests that, just like the strip itself, future updates could unlock access to alternate dimensions. Even if that day never comes, you can still proudly carry the keyboard around like a fashionable handbag.

Of course, Google isn’t planning on putting this highly advanced design into production, but it is generously allowing others to attempt building it on their own, providing complete 3D printer files, firmware, and guidance. The Double-Sided Gboard is just the latest in Google Japan’s series of keyboard designs launched on October 1st, a.k.a. 10/1, to celebrate the iconic and standard 101 keyboard.

The post Physical Double-Sided Gboard is the keyboard of your dreams or nightmares first appeared on Yanko Design.